Installing and removing tires from wheel rims is a common task performed by auto and truck mechanics. Modern tires may be difficult to install or remove from wheel rims as modern tires have increasingly stiff side walls, which must be flexed in to order for the tires to fit over the wheel rim. The physical connection between a wheel rim and a tire is referred to as a bead. Forming the bead when mounting tires to the wheel rims, especially when manually mounting tires by hand, may be difficult. In particular, tires and wheel rims for larger vehicles such as trucks or agricultural vehicles are larger, stiffer, and heavier. Large tires also tend to move relative to wheel rims during installation/removal, which can interfere with formation of the bead.
Several tools are used by mechanics to assist with manipulating the bead of a tire during an installation/removal operation. One common tool is referred to as a tire spoon, which is wedged in between the bead of the tire and the wheel rim in order to pry the tire apart from the wheel rim during a removal process, and seat the bead on the wheel rim during an installation process. A tire spoon provides leverage and gripping force for manipulating the bead, but does not hold the tire in place relative to the wheel rim.
Tools have also been developed to address this difficulty. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0060753 entitled “Tire bead wedge pliers,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a tire mounting tool configured to maintain a tire with respect to a wheel during a tire mounting process. The tool includes a wheel holding portion mounted on a handle, such as jaws that clamp on to the rim of a wheel and that are mounted on handles of a pair of pliers, and a tire holding portion that is configured to limit motion of a tire relative to the rim of the wheel. The tire holding portion is a member that extends out from one of the handles so that it extends away from the rim of the wheel when the wheel holding portion is mounted on the rim. The tire holding portion then acts as a stop to substantially prevent the tire from moving or limit a range of vertical movement of the tire. Once the Tire Bead Wedge Pliers are installed, a tire spoon can be used to guide the bead during the remainder of the operation.
However, the tire holding portion of the tool, by extending out from the handle, may increase the difficulty of manipulating the tool and mounting the tool on the wheel, and also increases the weight, complexity, and cost of the tool. Additionally, the tire holding portion may be insufficient to restrain larger tires that may weigh more than the tire holding portion can support or that may flex and move despite the support of the tire holding portion. Therefore, what is needed is a tire bead holding tool that is easy to manipulate and operate, and that holds the bead of a tire in place relative to a wheel rim during an installation/removal operation.